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Cleaning Your Conservatory Blinds

Keeping Clean, Staying Healthy

With regard to blinds in your conservatory side windows, slatted (wood or metal venetian) blinds are the worst culprit as the horizontal slats allow dust to fall & settle on them, requiring regular cleaning to keep them in pristine condition. A damp cloth or specialised cleaning tool is best rather than a feather duster which just removes the dust to become airborne again. Vertical blinds collect little dust, again because they hang in vertical strips, & can be easily washed by rolling up the vanes & putting them inside pillow cases for protection, whilst using the washing machine.

Heavy curtains capture dust and are both difficult and expensive to clean. Roman blinds are a better option if you want your window to have a dressed look, but these too collect dust in the folds. Pleated side blinds collect the dust though not as badly as venetians as the folds are less horizontal & the dust is not so visible. Some of the higher quality pleated fabrics can be washed by immersion in the bath, but this is not advisable as the aluminium rails can scratch the bath. Roller blinds are by far the best in this respect as the vertical flat surface does not allow dust to settle, & hence they never require washing, but just an occasional spot clean of the odd dead fly.

Cleaning Your Roof Blinds

Roof blinds are much more difficult to clean than side (window) blinds because:

  • The height of the roof & obstructions (furniture & plants) below, making access difficult.
  • Support wires get in the way (especially pleated blinds which typically have 50 – 60 in 1 roof compared to roller which have only 1 per blind)
  • They collect ten times the amount of dust that side blinds do, due to their angle being pitched rather than vertical.
  • Flies always fly up towards the light & heat & hundreds get trapped in that space between the blind & glass, unable to escape they die onto the back of the blind. They then dry up in the heat & disintegrate into “dust” (body parts).

Flies are a particularly horrible problem! The problem is most severe where conservatories are located near farmland with animals, or close to ponds, streams & rivers, lots of trees & shrubs or flowers. City centre locations with little greenery attract the least flies but are not immune to them!

Here are the facts relating to the roof blind choice you make:

Common sense tells you that a pleated, or corrugated, fabric is the worst possible design for catching flies & dust when fitted to a roof. The dead flies cannot simply ”roll” off upon operation as the pleats squeeze together, crushing the dead bodies further & helping the dust/ grime engrain into the fabric.

Whilst the better quality fabrics such as “Topar” backed fabrics (as used by the leading Hunter Douglas companies or their agents) may have a dust repellent treatment, this only helps delay the problem or reduce it slightly. Any backing to a blind will help protect the front of the blind, but dead flies will still show through when viewed from underneath. This is because most pleated fabrics are semi transparent to allow some light through to maintain a vibrant colour.

When the flies are “in season” there can be 500 of them behind 1 set of blinds! Not pleasant to look up at whilst eating your lunch in the conservatory! The only way to clean them is to unclip each blind & vacuum every single pleat! Brushing them is quicker, but unhealthy. Clipping them back up is feasible with the better systems, but not easy. This really should be undertaken by an expert fitter. The serious pleated blinds suppliers will do this for you once per year for around £75 - £100. It should really be done monthly!

Not the best to clean, but not the worst either! The reeds of thin wood strips bound together form a rough, rather than smooth, surface, but the ridges are only a couple of millimetres deep which enables you to “bounce” or agitate the flies to the base of the blind & deal with them here either by unclipping the base rail from the brackets (not easy), or as with the Prestige “Cut Above” system, removing the Pinoleum by means of a velcro type system (really easy & trouble free – see picture).

velcro strip for cleaning pinoleum roof blinds

Sitting under Pinoleum is very much akin to relaxing under a tree, with dappled sunshine filtering through the reeds. This creates a beautiful light effect & also makes the flies virtually impossible to see: you could argue “out of sight is out on mind”, but for those most health conscious amongst us, the Velcro “fly escape” feature is a brilliant way of cleaning, & means you do not have to pay the conservatory blinds supplier to come out & do it for you!

Without question, by far & away the easiest & best roof blind solution from a practical cleaning & maintenance point of view.

The flat format of the blind means that flies simply roll down the back & off under gravity, & this is helped when the blind is rolled down. So essentially they are self cleaning. If cassettes are fitted, these can either be removed say once every 2 years, or the flies sucked out with a vacuum cleaner small hose attachment. On rare occasions, you may need to spot clean a fly mark on the front of the blind & this is best achieved with a clean damp cloth or baby wipe!

Roof roller blinds stay smarter, longer & can still look as new 10 years later, assuming the correct aluminium backed fabric & fitting methods are used.

The continuous & mitred cassettes enhance the appearance further by hiding the brackets & pulleys at facia level, making the blinds appear “built-in” to the conservatory, rather than just planted on like other blind types.

Consider Your Health

There are 2 main elements to blinds that are pertinent to health issues:

  • Dust & dead flies, causing allergies & other health issues. Roof blinds, particularly pleated, can collect literally thousands of dead flies in the corrugated folds & this factor requires serious consideration.
  • Dangerous Ultra - Violet radiation causing damage to eyes, skin & hair. Fabrics types vary tremendously in their performance characteristics.

Well, it's unsightly of course, but there are health benefits. Some experts argue that up to 80% of asthmatics have a reaction to house dust. Another constituent of dust is the house dust mite, which feeds on the dead skin flakes shed by our pets and us.

Upholstered furniture is a big culprit - dust settles and works its way into the upholstery, then rises into the air when someone sits down. Ideally, buy leather sofas and chairs that can be wiped clean, or choose pieces with removable, machine washable covers, so that you can rid them of dust regularly.

Dust & broken down/ disintegrated fly body parts (wings, legs, heads, etc.) collect in the folds of pleated roof blinds particularly, causing the fold lines to become dirty, & being dispersed back into the air every time the blinds are operated. A close example are pleated light shades & the amount of dust that collects in every fold, rendering them virtually impossible to clean quickly & effectively.

Getting rid of your carpets will reduce the amount of dust in your home significantly. After pleated roof blinds, they collect and retain more dust than any other surface in your home, making it almost impossible to reduce dust levels. Swap them for hard flooring and small, washable rugs instead. Shelves themselves are always going to allow dust to settle, but so do the things that are on them. Books and magazines, knick knacks, kitchen pots and pans will all attract dust and grime, so consider getting doors put on open shelving. Glazed ones will still let you see your possessions, but you'll cut down on the dusting significantly

Avoid sweeping, which circulates the dust inside the rooms. Pleated & Pinoleum blinds should really be vacuumed, rather than brushed, although this is time consuming & awkward. Roller blinds do not require any cleaning of this sort.

Keep the windows of your house open, whenever the weather allows, even while vacuuming. Fresh air and ventilation also proves useful for diluting indoor concentrations and dust.

Airborne particles of dust can cause health problems

Research should always be taken with a pinch of salt, but you need to apply common sense measures to reduce any possible risks. Unnecessary dust from pleated roof blinds, should be avoided.

A growing number of researchers are studying the environmental threat of dust.

Dust is not just the collection of lint that drifts into the corners of your rooms. Tiny particles, are swept up by passing car tires, blown into the wind from construction sites and farms and spewed into the air by tail pipes and power plants. Scientists have also identified heavy metals, cancer-causing toxic substances, bacteria and viruses in airborne dust.

Experts say there is a growing body of evidence that all this dust and soot may cause serious health problems-not only for humans but for other species as well.

A U.S. study, conducted by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, found that for every cubic meter of air, an increase of 20 micrograms of airborne particulate matter (that's a bare 70 millionths of an ounce) brought a 1 percent rise in the death rate.

In another study, the nonprofit Natural Resources Defence Council calculated that as many as 60,000 Americans die each year from lung diseases, heart conditions and other health problems brought on by breathing concentrations of airborne dust. More people may die prematurely as a result of exposure to minute particles in the air than die in accidents on the highway, experts now think.

The problem of particulate pollution isn't limited to cities and suburbs, but applies to rural areas too. The average urban vehicle generates between 30 and 40 milligrams of particulate matter per mile travelled. The average rural vehicle sends between 200 to 300 milligrams into the air because there is more soil dust on rural roads and more diesel-powered vehicles.

Those particles can cause breathing problems. In 2009, British researchers exposed 25 volunteers to air mixed with diesel exhaust particles for the period of one hour, which is about the level you would inhale on a smoggy day in London. Six hours later, the scientists found signs of inflammation in the lungs.

Although usually tolerated, houseflies are a significant health risk, and they are a nuisance at various time of year. Their propensity to transmit disease arises from their mobility and love for dirt; they are as happy in the waste bin as they are on cooked meat. The way that they feed is quite disgusting! They cannot digest solids so they vomit digestive juices onto the surface of the food, before sucking it back up again. They often deposit a dropping before flying off.

In particular, house flies transmit a wide range of diseases including salmonella, dysentery, tuberculosis, cholera and parasitic worms. There are many kinds of flying insect which can make a nuisance of themselves from tiny to large, but houseflies and bluebottles are particular pests each summer. Houseflies lay their eggs in moist, decaying matter especially household refuse, manure or compost – unlike bluebottles which exclusively lay on dead animal bodies, meat or cheese

Houseflies generally have rather erratic flight patterns and can often be found in very large numbers flying around conservatory roofs.

Dealing with Fly Problems

Flies generally enter conservatories in search of food and as they are not fussy feeders, will have a taste of any likely meal they land on. The wide and rather unsavoury eating habits of flies makes them a potential risk to human health, contaminating food destined for the table with bacteria from the decaying material or animal droppings on which they fed earlier.

Good hygiene and a few sensible precautions, such as frequent cleaning of the kitchen & conservatory surfaces, disposing of scraps carefully and keeping waste – and compost – in secure bins, form the best approach to controlling fly problems in the long term. Removing dead flies from the backs of roof blinds is important as part of this cleaning program. However, in the short term there are some other more immediate measures which can be effective in helping to control these insects.

In recent years a variety of electric ultra-violet insect killers have come on the market which are far more suited to the domestic conservatory than the more familiar “butcher shop” type ugly designs. Some are designed as attractive “uplighters” to look like modern lighting. Some of the older remedies may also have something to offer. Fly papers, window-meshes and door screens, for example, may not be the most attractive additions to a conservatory but they can be partially effective in their place.

We understand that buying a conservatory is a big investment and would like to help you get the most from it. We like talking to customers too, so please call us on 0800 731 7259 to talk through your options with a specialist.

The conservatory with roof blinds fitted often becomes the most used room in the house, whether for dining, entertaining, relaxation, watching T.V., admiring your garden, or gaining some peace away from the children, or even as a playroom or exercise facility! The amount of hours spent in there justifies the expenditure on blinds, but there is often more glass in the conservatory than the whole of the house, so you are subject to a tremendous amount of solar radiation over the 10 of 15 years that you may live there! Even on dull days, UV rays can cause damage to hair, eyes , skin, fabrics & furnishings. So you should not ignore potential health risks, even though conservatory manufacturers would argue these are negligible. But they would, wouldn’t they? Even some major sunbed suppliers still argue there is no real “proof” that they are harmful, clearly this is ridiculous!

Are there positive benefits of UV radiation?

The sun's rays provide warmth and light to provide a personal feeling of well-being & comfort. UV radiation stimulates the body to produce vitamin D which has an important function in skeletal development, immune system and blood cell formation. So a little sunlight is good for you, but 10 minutes of sun to your face and hands two to three times a week during the summer months is sufficient to keep your vitamin D levels high.

However there are plenty of downsides:
The Eyes

The eye represents the sole organ system to allow the penetration of visible light deep into the human body. During human evolution a number of mechanisms have evolved to protect this very sensitive organ against harmful effects of the sun's rays:

The eye is recessed and shielded well by the brow, the eyebrows and the eyelashes. However, these only provide limited UV protection under extreme conditions such as through large areas of glass or strong ground reflection from conservatory walls & floors.

Constriction of the pupil, closure of the eyelids and the squinting reflex minimize the penetration of the sun's rays into the eye. These mechanisms are activated by bright visible light and not by UV radiation – but on a cloudy day UV radiation exposure may still be high. Therefore, the effectiveness of these natural defences in protecting against UV damage is limited. So sunblinds protect your eyes even on cloudy days. If you spend a lot of time in the conservatory, wear sunglasses if you cannot afford blinds! Roller roof blinds ELIMINATE GLARE, whilst the more dainty pleated fabrics simply REDUCE the glare.

Cancer of the eye

Current scientific evidence suggests that different forms of eye cancer may be associated with long periods of exposure to the sun. Melanoma is the most frequent malignant cancer of the eyeball and sometimes requires surgical removal. A common location for basal cell carcinoma is on the eyelids. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world today. Proteins in the eye's lens tangle and develop pigments which cloud the lens and eventually lead to blindness. Cataracts are enhanced by exposure to UV rays and so minimisation of unnecessary UV is sensible. Cataracts can be surgically removed and an artificial lens can restore vision. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 20 per cent of cataracts may be caused by overexposure to UV radiation and are therefore avoidable.

Our Solar Energi roof roller fabrics cut out 99% of UV & 98% of solar radiation, so your eyes will be perfectly relaxed with no need to squint, even in the middle of summer. Pleated & Pinoleum blinds allow through much more light & so do not have the same eye health benefits: they both reduce, rather than eliminate, glare.

The Skin

A suntan is no defence against long-term UV damage such as skin cancer, although short term it will help prevent further sunburn. It may be cosmetically desirable & provide the “feel good factor”, but in fact it is nothing but a sign that your skin has been damaged and has attempted to protect itself by releasing Melanin to the surface.

Wrinkles

UV results in the ageing of your skin due to a combination of factors. UVB stimulates cell production in the outer layer of the skin, & the epidermis thickens. UVA penetrating into the deeper skin layers disturbs the connective tissue: the skin loses elasticity; wrinkles, sags and bags are the common result. Furthermore, the sun's rays dry out your skin making it coarse and leathery

Non-melanoma skin cancers

Non-melanoma skin cancers are not usually fatal but surgical treatment can be painful and result in scars. These cancers are most frequent on those parts of the body that are commonly exposed to the sun such as ears, face, neck and forearms. The accumulated life-time exposure to UV radiation plays a major role in the development of non-melanoma skin cancers

Melanoma skin cancers

Malignant melanoma is the rarest but most dangerous type of skin cancer. All forms of skin cancer have been on the increase over the past twenty years, however, the highest rate of increase worldwide is noted for malignant melanoma.

Exposure during childhood is thought to be more important than exposure later in life. Tumour development may be linked to occasional exposure to short periods of intense sunlight, such as at weekends or on holiday.

Watch out for early symptoms of malignant melanoma & enjoy sunlight in moderation!

If you have a mole, freckle or spot you are concerned about, go and see a dermatologist! It may well not be a melanoma; however, if it is a melanoma, it is crucial that it is recognized and treated early.

Protect your skin and your children’s/ grandchildren’s skin

  • Avoid the sun during high-intensity hours. Reduce the time you spend outdoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Between 10.00 a.m. & 4.00 p.m. operate your roof blinds when using the conservatory.
  • If you plan to buy conservatory blinds, the summer sun is the most dangerous when it is highest in the sky & most potent, so invest in good quality, highly reflective aluminium backed roof blinds, for maximum protection & peace of mind.
  • If your conservatory is north facing with the upper floors shielding the sun, then you can settle for less effective fabrics if you prefer your conservatory blinds to let in more light (& hence heat. This would not apply to bungalows of course, which can be exposed to the sun all day whatever the aspect.
  • If you are unsure whether you need the best conservatory blinds in thermal terms then it is better to be safe than sorry, especially if you have children or grandchildren playing in the conservatory & choose the type that minimises solar gain. On dull days you can easily roll back a section of the blinds to allow the light to flood in, you only need to put a few back if you prefer.
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